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This basic pasta cream sauce is worth learning how to make. It only needs 3 ingredients and the taste will rival any Italian restaurant.Once you master the basics, you can customise this recipe in so many different ways. I can show you how!
To take this pasta sauce further, try our Creamy Pasta with Pancetta and Peas for a flavour variation.
Anyone looking for a simple recipe to pull out when time to make dinner is running short is in for a treat! This recipe for pasta cream sauce is as easy as it comes, yet it’s silky smooth and full of lovely flavour.
It actually feels like a stretch for this to be called a recipe. It’s so easy and only has 3 ingredients. It is however what authentic Italian cream sauce is all about:
- Simplicity
- Quality ingredients
Ingredients
Creamy sauce for pasta could be known by many names. Alfredo sauce, Parmesan sauce, etc. Those names however, are not something that Italians actually use.
Garlic, chicken stock, flour, milk. None of them are really needed to make a full flavour cream sauce for any types of pasta.
No need to build more suspense though. Truth is all you need is cream, freshly grated parmesan cheese and a pinch of salt.
Some recipes include milk or flour. This will lower the calories in the dish but will also reduce flavour. Not something I buy into!
Instead, choose heavy cream with at least 36% fat. No need for flour thickener!
You are probably wondering how could be that good when it’s so simple. I will say it again.
Quality ingredients.
That has always been the secret behind Italian cuisine. They use quality, fresh ingredients that bring lots of flavour with a minimum of fuss.
This is the reason why so many Italian recipes are deceptively simple, with a limited list of ingredients, yet add up to remarkably tasty food. Using better ingredients means that you need less of them for great results.
This recipe is a great example of how this works. The ingredient list is tiny, yet the creamy sauce is still wonderfully tasty!
Parmesan cheese
While you can use pre-grated Parmesan cheese, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Once the cheese is grated and packaged, it immediately dries out and starts losing flavour. That means you would actually need more of pre-grated cheese to get enough flavour in your sauce.
It will also be more difficult to incorporate it into the cream. Pre-grated cheese sold commercially is packed in anti-caking agent to prevent it from sticking. This will impact the texture of your sauce negatively.
Buying a small, vacuum sealed piece of Parmesan and grating it yourself before adding to pasta sauces will always result in a more flavourful and creamier dish.
Substitutions and variations
This recipe for pasta cream sauce is a basic combination to which you can add all kinds of things to make it more interesting like this Creamy Tagliatelle with Bacon, Portobello Mushrooms and Truffle Oil.
If you are bored with plain creamy sauce, make it more interesting by adding a spoonful of tomato paste or even sun-dried tomato pesto like I did in my recipe for Tortelloni with Creamy Tomato Sauce.
The sauce works as a base on which other flavours can be layered. This doesn’t mean that this sauce isn’t delicious as it is.
But you can easily add in protein like chicken or shrimp. Or vegetables like broccoli and asparagus. It all works, and makes this amazing sauce a recipe you can turn to over and over again!
Serving suggestions
This creamy sauce is best suited for long pasta shapes such as fettuccine or tagliatelle. But no need to get too fussy about it, so feel free to use any pasta you have on hand.
It’s a rich sauce so best to keep any dishes you serve with it light and fresh. I serve vegetable side dishes like Lemon Garlic Green Beans with Parmesan Cheese or a fresh Caprese Salad. Both stick with the Italian theme while bringing a burst of freshness to the meal.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- It’s really important to rely on your own instincts when making simple dishes because apart from quality ingredients they also rely on proper cooking techniques. Lucky for you, cooking a delicious pasta dish is not too difficult if you follow a few simple steps.
- Always buy 100% durum semolina pasta made in Italy. It’s worth your money I promise you.
- Do salt the water you boil your pasta in. No oil, just salt. The pasta needs time to absorb salt while it is in the water so it is not bland when it hits your plate.
- Always cook your pasta al dente. Buying 100% durum semolina pasta makes it easier to achieve since it’s got a bit of a chew.
- You will notice this recipe has no flour or starch to thicken the sauce. It is not necessary if you use heavy or double cream. The fat content of at least of 36% in the cream is enough to make a perfect sauce, that coats the pasta but not too thick and gloopy. It should be fluid, rich and luxurious.
- Don’t forget to reserve some water the pasta was cooked in to add to the sauce later. The main reason for is because hot pasta absorbs liquid very quickly and greedily.
- And even though you made enough sauce to serve with your pasta, the minute you combine the two a portion of the sauce gets absorbed, and all of a sudden you’ve got dry pasta but what we want is saucy! Here is when your reserved starchy water comes to the rescue and turns your pasta into something silky smooth and lovely.
- Always dress your hot pasta with a sauce before serving! This point is actually very important as I often see sauce on the side in people’s homes and blogger’s photos. There is really no good reason for it. All it does is exposes your undressed pasta and makes it dry and flavourless.
Storage and leftovers
While leftover pasta is worth keeping around for an easy and convenient lunch option, truth is that it’s not quite the same the next day. The pasta will inevitably lost its al dente texture, even if it remains tasty.
Refrigerated leftovers can be kept for three days and is best warmed up in a microwave. Frozen pasta can become far too soggy, so best not to freeze.
More creamy pasta recipes
- Chicken and Bacon Pasta
- Orzo Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash
- Creamy Salmon Pasta with Mixed Greens
- Easy Carbonara Sauce
- Tagliatelle with Truffle Sauce
Pasta Cream Sauce
Julia Frey of Vikalinka
An easy pasta cream sauce recipe that could be made with only 3 ingredients and will rival any Italian restaurant pasta
4.85 from 46 votes
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Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Total Time 15 minutes mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 6
Calories 320 kcal
Ingredients
- 500ml/2cups double cream/heavy cream
- 50g/1/2cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
- salt to taste
Instructions
Heat the cream in a pan over low heat but do not let it boil.
Take it off the heat and whisk in the grated Parmesan cheese until melted and smooth. Taste the sauce and add the salt as needed. (Salt is an important ingredient here, so do not skip it.)
To dress the pasta with the cream sauce, add the pasta directly to the pan with the sauce and gently shake the pan to coat the pasta with the sauce. Add up to ⅓ cup of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce.
Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Read the tips in the post on how to make better pasta dishes.
Nutrition
Calories: 320kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 5gFat: 33gSaturated Fat: 21gCholesterol: 120mgSodium: 553mgPotassium: 70mgSugar: 1gVitamin A: 1290IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 153mgIron: 1mg
Keyword pasta cream sauce
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